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One of the many, many worries people had when first sending humans to the Moon had to do with the Van Allen radiation belts. These are layered, two-lobed areas of space around the Earth that have an unusually high density of high-energy charged particles, including electrons. These electrons damage electronics, penetrating deep into a spacecraft and often causing harmful releases of energy in semiconductors or electrical relays. When the Apollo missions sent humans through these belts of space, NASA simply had no idea what to expect since prior human flights had never gone far enough out to cross the fields. The astronauts zipped through unharmed, however, and today the Van Allen belts aren’t thought to pose a significant danger to living things so long as they are shielded and don’t spend too long inside.

However, even after all that, we still had no clear understanding of why the belts were so dangerous to electronics — an invisible force appeared to be ramping up these charged particles to nearly the speed of light, but where was that force coming from? We eventually developed two competing theories, one which said the source of accelerating energy was foreign, the other arguing that it was local. We know the particles mostly come from gusts of solar wind, but is there something intrinsic to our area of space that gives the particles a boost? This week the journal Science published the answer: it’s the Earth’s own magnetic field that makes the Van Allen belts so dangerous.

The cause, it seems, are lower-energy electrons that give off just the right frequency of electromagnetic radiation, in this case in the radio portion of the spectrum. It’s a powerful enough source of energy to be detectable with a hand-held antenna and headphones, though that can’t be too surprising given the level of energy it can impart to particles in the Van Allen belts. Lead researcher Geoffrey Reeves likens the effect to hitting a tether ball: “The waves have just the right frequency to hit that tether ball each time it comes around, at just the right time, so it goes faster.” Eventually, these electron tether balls approach relativistic speeds.

For decades it was believed that Earth had only two Van Allen belts, but just a few months ago the Van Allen probes discovered a third, much farther out than the first two. It turned out to be transient, eventually being blown away by a strong solar shockwave. Still, as we become increasingly dependent on global communications technology, a detailed understanding of these belts of space will become more important. Everything from GPS satellites to research telescopes shield their electronics and generally shut down when entering them to minimize the chance of damage.

Even then, solar storms and local geomagnetic phenomena can swell the fields dramatically, sometimes engulfing whole fleets of satellites with little warning. It’s only recently that scientists have truly appreciated how volatile these fields of space can be. Right now, their changes are often unpredictable — but this breakthrough might help us change that. Understanding the nature of the the space around our planet will be critical to predicting its actions.

Interestingly, there is a proposition to actually destroy the Van Allen belts with a program called the High Voltage Orbiting Long Tether (HiVOLT). This system of five 100 kilometer-long charged tethers would be deployed from satellites and magnetically deflect the charged particles. This would disburse them remarkably quickly, with projections putting the electron flux at just 1% of today’s level after two months of operation.

Regardless, understanding the Van Allen belts will be necessary if want to have any hope of continuing to advance our mechanization of the skies at the current pace.

Dangerous….and life-saving, considering they’re one of the planet’s first lines of defence against solar wind and radiation? (Not to mention the cause of the aurora borealis and austalis!) I’m kind of surprised there’s no discussion at all of what the Van Allen belts are and what they actually do, aside from some wikipedia quotes and the predilection of the naturally occuring phenomena being “dangerous.”

Regardless, the core point here is correct and well treated – they can be dangerous to spacecraft and electronics passing out of low earth orbit although largely not to people. I am, however absolutely apalled that there’s any discussion of destroying them, as to do so would be to put all life on the surface of the planet at risk.

Jamie MacDonald

Yeah, they do seem like something that might be handy to have, especially as we’ve literally only just discovered the cause of them, we still have to fully study the effect.

Joao Ribeiro

Fully draining/deflecting it seems a very unwise option as we don’t really know what nefarious side effects may come to be as a result of such an action.

But why not use it as a power source instead? I bet it can power satellites and even wirelessly charge your Smartphone :P

Marrach

I kind of remember learning that it was the Van Allen Belts that in part SHIELD us fragile organic thingies from the really HARD solar and Interstellar particle bombardment & Radiation….Someone correct me if I’m wrong. So just writing a story about how DANGEROUS they are is just shoddy Science Writing. If your going to write Science Articles this shoddily, then PLEASE, just stick to publishing Cell-Phone Blurbs.

So the notion of short-circuiting the Van Allen’s so more people can yap on their cell phones (Yes, I know that’s not what they’re talking about–but the ridiculousness factor is the same!) is worse than short-sighted.

Engineering Science is Great…until we forget that Sometimes, SOMETIMES, the Brilliant Scientist may not have any COMMON SENSE. The day when the Brilliant Scientist ruefully murmurs: “Oh I hadn’t thought about that!” could be REALLY, REALLY Bad.

Glenn Scott

“Interestingly, there is a proposition to actually destroy the Van Allen belts with a program…”
Huh. So…if you don’t understand it, and if it causes you some discomfort, you should destroy it, and I guess, just “see what happens”?
How about this…how about leaving the thing that could possibly be saving the entire planet alone, and increasing shielding on the satellites? How’s that for a proposition?
Oh! How about, I don’t know, studying the phenomenon to determine the ramifications of destroying it, and THEN making an informed decision?

hatori10

because that is just TOO logical, Spock… jeez.

Postulative

So we have a natural “shield” for the planet, and the best we can come up with is “destroy it”? Don’t the Van Allen belts protect Earth from all sorts of radiation that would otherwise hit us? When those unfriendly aliens arrive, aren’t their spacecraft electronics going to be fizzled by our unfriendly belts, while the blue-skinned weirdos can expect cancers to develop long after they have conquered us and sent our children into slavery?

It would be nice to have a bit more information in this story about the Van Allen belts, rather than just this glib overview ending in “let’s get rid of them”.

Gene

“Interestingly, there is a proposition to actually destroy the Van Allen belts…” I got a bad feeling about this.

Thomas Ackerman

If you guys still don’t have the rest figured out just straight out come to my lab and ask. There was no NASA satellites damaged. That wasn’t the source of there data. They eve’s dropped in on a conversation me and my partner were having regarding the Van Allen belts and their function. I got a funny feeling and we abruptly stopped talking about it and discovered we had been spied on. NASA’s explanation of how the Van Allen belts work and what their function is was abruptly cut short exactly where we ended our conversation. I am Andrew Ackerman. They have since claimed I worked researching for them which I never have and won’t. They suspiciously have not even a trace of evidence that the damaged satellites existed little own fell to earth. They are guilty of espionage and research money misappropriation into the billions of dollars. They are a military front operation for a space weaponization program disguised as a peaceful research project. Anything you would like to know about this matter or sun tetherball just come to Canada and see us in person. we would be most gracious hosts happy to answer and display our research and allow examination of digital forensics proving what I’m saying.

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